CHERRY TREE - In 1768, representatives of the heirs of William Penn paddled up the West Branch of the Susquehanna River as far as their canoes could take them. At the last navigable spot on the river - known as Canoe Place - they met with American Indians to begin surveying the western Pennsylvania land ceded by the Indians at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, N.Y.Today, Canoe Place is called Cherry Tree and a tall, stone monument stands at the edge of town near the confluence of the Susquehanna and Cush Cushion Creek. It commemorates the land sale and the historical significance of that spot as the beginning point of the "purchase line" that ran west toward Kittanning.
Cherry Tree is about to become the starting point for 21st-century canoeists who want to retrace the route of the first explorers there and to relive a little of the adventure of the rugged loggers and raftsmen who made Cherry Tree a center of the area's timbering economy a century later.Don Rager is asking Cherry Tree-area residents to lend their ideas, skills and knowledge to some plans he has for preserving Cherry Tree's history and bringing part of it back to life.
Rager was born and raised in Cherry Tree. He graduated from Cherry Tree High School in 1949 and then left his hometown to serve in the Army. He later lived in Delaware and Murrysville while working as a terminal and maintenance manager for Ryder's auto-carrier division.
He moved back to the Cherry Tree area a few years ago after he retired. While reminiscing about his boyhood days swimming, fishing and boating in the old McKeage Dam near town, he decided that Cherry Tree's past should be preserved and that Cherry Tree's history might also draw tourism dollars to the community today.
Rager pitched his idea to the borough council, and the council appointed him Cherry Tree's historical coordinator.
"Don was interested in everything that's going on," said the council president, Monica Beltowski. "He's really taken the ball and run with it. I believe everybody's really behind him."
Rager is planning a community meeting Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the borough office building to outline his ideas and to recruit others who want to get involved.
His plans for showcasing Cherry Tree's history center on three main projects.
The River Water Trail
Cherry Tree Borough has applied for a grant to help build a canoe launch downstream from the Route 580 bridge in the borough. It will be the first access point on the West Branch Susquehanna River Water Trail, a 240-mile floating trip back through the 1800s, when Pennsylvania was the timbering capital of the world.
The river trail is being developed as a cooperative venture of the Lumber Heritage Region of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Initiative of the National Park Service.
There are 64,000 square miles in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and the West Branch of the Susquehanna is the single largest stream in the watershed.
The intent of the river trail is to commemorate the 19th-century history of the Susquehanna when it was a "superhighway" famous for its log drives, especially between 1830 and 1880. It was a major mode of transportation for logs harvested in Indiana and Cambria counties and then floated downstream to shipbuilding markets in the Chesapeake Bay.
The river trail will have 26 public access points and will be divided into 16 sections. Detailed maps are being prepared for each section, providing canoeists with historical references and the same markers used to guide rafters in the 1800s.
Work on Cherry Tree's canoe launch should begin this spring, and Rager said volunteers will soon begin making some improvements to the upper stretch of the river.
"What we're going to need is people who can help clear brush growing into the center of the river from the banks between Cherry Tree and Burnside," he said.
The Cherry Tree Museum
More mementos of Cherry Tree's timbering and railroading days and other articles from its history may be displayed in a museum planned for the borough.
After Robert Tonkin, the town's oldest lifelong male resident, died last month, his family agreed to donate his two-story frame home to the borough for use as a museum.
Volunteers will be needed eventually to help with renovation work, and Rager hopes Cherry Tree residents will share old photos and other items from their town for display.
McKeage Dam
Re-creation of the McKeage Dam along Route 580 is the most ambitious of Rager's visions for his hometown.
The dam on Cush Cushion Creek was built in the 1800s. It created a lake that Rager estimates was about 65 to 100 acres in size. The lake was a popular recreation spot, and a rustic, log lodge was built amid towering pines on the shore of the lake.
The dam broke in the 1936 flood, and all that remains are remnants of the dam's stone and earth breast. Also still visible is the millrace and foundation stones for an old gristmill that operated just below the dam.
If it can be rebuilt, the McKeage Dam could again be a popular fishing and boating resource for the area and could provide water for fire protection for the borough, Rager said.
The dam's rebirth seems dependent on having the property - now overgrown with trees - donated to the borough.
Rager has one other long-range idea for Cherry Tree's history revival. He'd like to approach officials of the R.J. Corman Railroad Co., the owner of tracks that run through town, about building an excursion railroad to take day-trippers from Cherry Tree to Clearfield.
Rager hopes other Cherry Tree residents will share his enthusiasm for his hometown's history and will volunteer at Wednesday evening's meeting to serve on committees, helping with the projects, and by arranging future meetings and taking notes.
